This fall
season unveiled a cookbook collection tailored
to the eclectic chef who likes to accessorize
as well as dress down. Cookbooks are a dime a
dozen these days, but these stood above the rest
with artful presentation and versatile recipes
for both the professional cook and the ravenous
food lover.
Alfred Portale and Andrew Friedman’s 12
Seasons Cookbook and Todd English’s The
Olives Dessert Table recipes are presented
in separate pieces. The cook can choose to make
one part of the dish alone or with one or several
of its accessories. Meanwhile, Jean-Georges and
Mark Bittman in Simple
to Spectacular break it down by offering 5 ways to prepare an
ingredient, from basic to glamorous.
Themed books like Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby’s How
to Cook Meat,
James Peterson’s Splendid
Soups and Maggie Glezer’s Artisan
Baking are
odes to meat, soup and bread. They pinpoint their
passion for food on one basic element, helping
us recognize that filet mignon is not the king
of meat, that any group of ingredients can be
made into soup, and that baking is not scary,
after all it’s "only flour, water and
time."
Every recipe is one you want to make; our final
selections give an idea of the vast culinary possibilities
these books have to offer. Feel free to mix and
match!.
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